Impact of conservation agriculture production system on soil physical properties

The research entitled “Effect of conservation production system on soil properties and carbon dynamics in rainfed condition” was conducted at AICRP for dryland agriculture, UAS, GKVK, and Bangalore during Kharif 2020. With three main plot treatments “Tillage practices” (M1-Conventional tillage, M2-Reduced tillage, M3-Zero tillage) and three sub plot treatments ‘Cover crops’ (C1-Control, C2-Field bean, C3-Horse gram) replicated thrice and laid out in split plot design. Among different tillage practices zero tillage (M3) with field bean (C2) as surface mulch improved field capacity (15.39%) and MWHC (33.75%) while horse gram (C3) as surface mulch improved aggregate stability (85.80%) compared to conventional tillage practices without surface mulch. Overall, adoption of conservation agriculture crop mulching and reduced tillage operations promotes the soil physical properties under rainfed condition.